UN coordinator: Hundreds of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem face risk of forced displacement

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lynn Hastings, warned that  forced displacement threatens hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The UN coordinator pointed out in a tweet she posted on her official Twitter page today, according to Wafa Agency, that “hundreds of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem are at risk of forced expulsion. This destructive practice which contravenes international law must end. One of the Palestinian families, including the elderly, faces the threat of displacement from their home in which they lived in  since 1954 in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.

Last April, United Nations experts called on the international community to take immediate action to stop forced expulsion and displacement of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem. They noted that these practices are strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law and are considered as a visible war crime.”

Experts estimated that about 150 Palestinian families living in the Old City of Jerusalem and neighboring neighborhoods such as Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah are at risk of forced eviction and displacement by the occupation authorities.

It is noteworthy that the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed two days ago that the crimes of demolition, the delivery of more notices, the displacement of Palestinians, and the razing of land in order to expand Israeli settlements in several areas of the West Bank, including the occupied city of Jerusalem, are a flagrant violation of the most basic principles of human rights, foremost of which is the right to housing.

Inas Abdulkareem